We’ve had weeks of rain (which is so strange for us here in the desert) and my garden is finally going gangbusters! Even though I planted early, we had a late start – I think because we’ve had so many late freezes. Here are pictures of my peas going crazy. There’s lettuce too that’s finally starting to come on, three broccoli plants and some dill that’s coming up from last year. I also threw in a couple of tomato plants and will plant several more after the peas are harvested. I’m so excited to fill my freezer with peas! I planted peas in the pod and sugar snap peas.

(click to see notes)

My original plan had been to cover the garden with a tarp while my neighbor’s elm trees dropped their seeds, but because of the peas I was unable to, so I’ll be pulling elm sprouts for the rest of my life. Honor, thankfully, thinks this is a really fun job.

The yard has a long way to go this year, but I have a whole plan mapped out… it need only be funded and executed. In the meantime I’ll enjoy my pergola covered patio that I filled with pretty flower pots.

I’m also a member of the Main Street Community garden, so I plant to have copious amounts of organic veggies. I’ll try to take some pics (with my new, pretty, white iphone4) soon so we can watch that progress too.

Here’s the most recent round of publicity that Tangle has received:

kjct interview
(totally unexpected, of course on a day I was lazy about doing my hair.)

letter to the editor in the Daily Sentinel

Shifts in my heart have never been gradual… more like giant leaps and bounds that come on all of the sudden. Each phase that I have gone through has been brought about so quickly. Like one day I wake up different… one moment I find myself a different person that I was the moment before.

It think that is because I’ve always been pretty adaptable. I’ve always been able to accept change… especially if I saw it coming – then I could plan. Change is well upon me and I’m finding myself settling into it. Right now, change and I are friends. I’m feeling content with my life; I feel a peace and freedom that I’ve never felt. But I’m also starting to get glimpses of how different it could be. I have this feeling that I don’t even know what great things are in store for me… but I have my suspicions and they fill me with so much hope.

Today, right now – this very moment, is already so much better than I’d ever imagined it could be. I feel so, terribly thankful.

Tangle sponsored (and created) Knit on the Corner again this year during our city’s Art and Jazz festival. Art and Jazz has always been my favorite Main Street event and I love that Tangle gets to be such a public part of it now.

Here are some of the photos from the event: (click any to see more)

(This year’s knitting and crocheting was all made by me and Christina.)

Honor had a field trip on Monday to our county landfill. I volunteered to go, not imagining that it would be any fun, but it was actually pretty fascinating. Our county’s landfill is housed on 1500 acres of land, but the planned “footprint” for the actual landfill is 127 acres. It’s currently at 60 acres and they plan to have it full by 2030. According to the landfill’s website, they take in 9lbs of trash per person per day!

It was interesting how the landfill works. They pack trash into sections (I think she said 30’x30′ sections) separated by layers of dirt. After they have reached the top of the section it’s covered over with dirt. Once the landfill is complete, the land can be used for other purposes, even parks.

We learned about how things breakdown in a landfill. Because of the way it is basically packed underground without much air or moisture and especially because we live in such a dry climate, things take FOREVAH to break down. Here’s the list she told the kids about:

Banana peels – 6mo-1year
Hot dog – 10 years
paper – 40 years
soup can – 80 years
diaper – 100 years
soda can or plastic water bottle – 500 years
styrofoam and plastic grocery bags – probably never

I’m a pretty avid recycler, but this these reminders really renewed my passion for recycling. I couldn’t believe that PAPER would take so long to break down in a landfill. It breaks down so quickly in my compost pile! I just don’t see any reason to waste resources and leave trash behind longer than we will be on earth! Especially when recycling is so easy – it just requires a bit of organization and then it takes no more work than throwing things away.

I’ve heard so many arguments against recycling… Sure the recycling system isn’t perfect, especially here. And yes it does cost a little more (for me it’s $2.50 a month) but things that are good for us tend to cost a little more.

I’m going to be thinking about this and writing about this more later but here are my initial thoughts:

•no more ziplocs for lunches – most everything can go in a reusable container or packed in unbleached waxed paper bags that I get at Vitamin Cottage. Bonus points if the kids bring them back home from school and they can go in the compost.

•throw things like popsicle sticks directly into the outdoor fireplace for starting fires. bonus points for making popsicles in reusable containers.

•Find out if I can recycle bread bags with grocery bags. What about the bags that come in cereal boxes?

•Try really hard to only buy products that come in containers that can either be reused or recycled.

More to come.

How does your family recycle? Do you have any ideas for me? And I encourage you, dear reader, to recycle if you don’t.

I had an amazing moment a few weeks ago when I received a darling email from Cat Mayer, who is, in my opinion, the best photographer in Grand Junction. She was touched by what I’ve written on this blog recently and decided that this new version of our family needed to be photographed. So last week the kids and I picked out our own clothes and headed out to the country to have a photo session with Cat. Honor couldn’t understand why “everything needed to be perfect” when I asked him to brush his teeth and smooth out his hair. (Little boys can be so slimy!)

We had so much fun tromping around in fields, chasing cows (Eden was determined to pet one), throwing sticks in the pond. The kids were beyond squirly, but that’s just how they are all the time, so it seemed appropriate for the photos.

Through this whole process I have been so touched and surprised by the people around me who have reached out. I am so surrounded and loved. Cat walked into Tangle a couple years ago and since then I have marveled at her talent and beauty, all of which is a reflection of her heart. I feel lucky to know these people who are surrounding me, they have made me a better person. I am just so grateful.

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

-Martin Luther King Jr. + someone else

(thanks Elaine)